1
as in hopeless
not capable of being cured or reformed
an irretrievable drug addict who had wasted a once-promising life
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in irreparable
not capable of being repaired, regained, or undone
this is just an irretrievable mess, so let's start all over again
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of irretrievable
Days before, Sheriff Nanos had said images were irretrievable.
—
Richard Ruelas, AZCentral.com, 1 Mar. 2026
This dreamscape of the island, like that of the jungle, illuminates in children’s literature a sense of utopia and longing about childhood as a not-quite-place, situated in an irretrievable past-yet-future, while at the same time rooted in an anti-utopian logic of adulthood.
—Literary Hub, 17 Nov. 2025
Alcaraz broke the Italian twice, winning the set with an incredible backhand flick from what looked like an irretrievable position and cupping his ear.
—Tim Ellis, Forbes.com, 13 July 2025
There is a genuinely irretrievable, ephemeral, low-res version of the movie.
—Rachel Handler, Vulture, 17 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for irretrievable
Richard Ruelas, AZCentral.com, 1 Mar. 2026
This dreamscape of the island, like that of the jungle, illuminates in children’s literature a sense of utopia and longing about childhood as a not-quite-place, situated in an irretrievable past-yet-future, while at the same time rooted in an anti-utopian logic of adulthood.
—Literary Hub, 17 Nov. 2025
Alcaraz broke the Italian twice, winning the set with an incredible backhand flick from what looked like an irretrievable position and cupping his ear.
—Tim Ellis, Forbes.com, 13 July 2025
There is a genuinely irretrievable, ephemeral, low-res version of the movie.
—Rachel Handler, Vulture, 17 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for irretrievable
Recent Examples of Synonyms for irretrievable
Adjective
-
Kay seems to be more of a relentless romantic than a hopeless one.—
Larisha Paul,
Rolling Stone,
28 Apr. 2026
-
The Swiss Eugen Bleuler, a follower of Kraepelin, replaced the term dementia praecox, which implied hopeless deterioration, with the softer term schizophrenia.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
28 Apr. 2026
Adjective
-
Earlier this year, the Environmental Protection Agency rescinded several longstanding environmental regulations, including gutting the 2009 endangerment finding and rolling back air quality standards for coal-burning power plants, which advocates say will cause irreparable harm.—
Stephen Underwood,
Hartford Courant,
27 Apr. 2026
-
The Court’s tendency to side with the White House in such cases, if only temporarily, has allowed serious constitutional harm to continue, and has, in some cases, done irreparable damage.—
Gregg Nunziata,
The Atlantic,
27 Apr. 2026
Adjective
-
Poet-activist Andrea Gibson and their partner Megan Falley confront Andrea’s incurable ovarian cancer diagnosis as cameras follow them, exploring how this journey deepens their love and appreciation for life.—
Brande Victorian,
HollywoodReporter,
23 Apr. 2026
-
In the 1980s and 1990s, the figure of the addict abruptly shifted from being considered deserving of medical treatment to being seen as an emblem of incurable criminality.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
1 Apr. 2026
Adjective
-
The outcome hinges on whether Iran can secure an agreement to lift international sanctions — without which economists warn the economic damage could prove irreversible.—
Amir-Hussein Radjy,
Los Angeles Times,
28 Apr. 2026
-
For some galaxies, the shutdown might be irreversible, a truly permanent end to star formation, likely due to severe gas loss.—
Paul Sutter,
Space.com,
25 Apr. 2026
Adjective
-
At the same time, much of the world is facing water bankruptcy, meaning people and industries are using more fresh water than nature can replenish, leading to irrecoverable ecosystem damages.—
Abraham Nunbogu,
Fortune,
29 Apr. 2026
-
An irrecoverable loss of the entirety of our personal data.—
Shannon Bond,
NPR,
11 Mar. 2026
Adjective
-
His remains were determined to be unrecoverable in 1956 until new DNA testing led to his homecoming.—
Bri Buckley,
CBS News,
23 Apr. 2026
-
It was pronounced unrecoverable.—
Julian Lucas,
New Yorker,
20 Apr. 2026
Adjective
-
This is why the tragedy of Gaza seems definitive and irremediable: because a state and an army that pretend to be the expression of that culture, as the heirs of that history, have betrayed the Jewish intellectual contribution to modern civilization.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
24 Mar. 2026
-
Many of the country’s top psychiatric groups warn that there is no empirical standard for determining whether a mental-health condition is irremediable.—
Elizabeth Bruenig,
The Atlantic,
4 Feb. 2026
Adjective
-
Daisy’s strategy with Mike has always been to treat him like a misbehaved child, which works insofar as scolding an incorrigible child does.—
Rafaela Bassili,
Vulture,
10 Mar. 2026
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Terrible for me, an incorrigible snoop of other people’s phones, but probably a good thing for society at large.—
David Pierce,
The Verge,
28 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Irretrievable.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/irretrievable. Accessed 6 May. 2026.
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